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DOI: 10.24234/wisdom.v22i2.805 Vachagan GRIGORYAN, Ara ARAKELYAN, Naira ISKANDARYAN, Anush KOSYAN
INTERPRETATION OF FATE AND GUILT IN ARMENIAN AND EUROPEAN EPICS
Abstract
The subject of the current article is that, for the first time in the study, the issues of the relationship between fate and sin in European-Armenian heroic epics were analyzed using historical, comparative meth-
Perceptions of both fate and guilt are quite different in French, German, Spanish and Armenian epics. This approach examines the works of epic heritage, not so much external plot similarities and differences but internal worldview perceptions.
The purpose of the study is to reveal the internal commonalities and peculiarities between European and Armenian epics.
As a result, the authors put forward the thesis that, in European epics, fate is alienated from a person and is personified in "Sasna Tsrer", it originates from the individual and returns to him and is not personified. As a result, in European epics, guilt is seen as a consequence of an act; in "Sasna Tsrer", guilt is a state that turns into a national destiny.
Keywords: "Sasna Tsrer", epic fate, sin, state, sin and freedom, personalized fate.
Introduction
The study of European-Armenian epics is mainly carried out by the methodology of comparative literature. More attention was paid to the commonalities of folklore works. The revelations are based on the similarity of the plots and the characters of the acting heroes. In this case, the starting point of the analysis becomes the discovery of external qualities of phenomena. In this study, the examination of European-Armenian heroic epics is conducted in the context of Western-Eastern worldviews. It is not so much the events that are analyzed but the worldview qualities related to the relationship between fate and sin. Since the European-Armenian heroic epics were largely completed in the Middle Ages, and the latter existed under conditions of di-
vine supremacy, the examination of the issues takes into account the views of Eastern and Western theologians on the perception of fate and sin.
The epic "Sasna Tsrer", as a work of wide coverage of the time, becomes a set of perceptions representing the East, a highly valuable work representing from mythical times to the Middle Ages.
The Perception of Fate and Sin in the East and in the West
Perceptions of guilt are relatively stable cultural categories. They are independent concepts, endowed with rich semantics, with the possibility of different interpretations, or from the religious-philosophical point of view, they can be considered together as necessary, accidental, cause, and
backlinks of the dialectical chain. Examples of their interpretation can be found in both Eastern and Western religious and philosophical texts, from Indian karma to the Greek moirai and the Roman fortunes.
Hegel's (1971) arguments are relevant in this respect, especially as they relate to epic literature: "...in epic, not in drama, as it is usually considered fate rules. The dramatic character decides his own fate. And for the epic character, on the contrary, fate is chosen. Everything that is set to happen is happening, and it is like that, not something is happening out of necessity" (p. 452).
According to the philosopher, necessity-fate predetermines the course of the hero's actions. Every action brings him closer to a fatal solution. Being free in actions, the epic hero is not free at the same time because, by his actions, he also becomes a reality, the problem of national fate. Sin, or rather an epic sin, in this sense, is an accidental or necessary event that contributes to the resolution of fate.
The interpretation of this dilemma of the inseparable connection between the cause and the past is given by H. Ibsen. In one of the plays, his hero says: "It is true that evil newcomers rule the world, but their power is nothing if they do not find helpers under our own breast" (Ibsen, 1971, p. 258). In other words, the issue is related to the freedom of the hero, from which fatal guilt is not far off.
The connection between freedom and sin, of which Sophocles still speaks, is paradoxically recorded by later thinkers (Fichte, Schelling, and Kierkegaard).1 In the 20th century, P. Ricoeur (2002) wrote: "The root of all evil is in freedom" (pp. 522-523).
The above-mentioned religious-philosophical problems are expressed in many ways, especially in works of art, especially folklore.
Thus, continuing the ancient Christian traditions, the German peoples give a unique interpre-
1 See details about this in (Gaydenko, 1997, pp. 208253).
tation of fate. In the Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf', in the Scandinavian "Senior Edda", in the German "Song of the Nibelungs" - in a number of other works, one can often meet different spirits who predict the future, control the fate of heroes or talk about the end of the world. In Scandinavian mythology, the so-called Norns2 and valkyries appear instead of the ancient parcaes and moirai. The latter, unlike norns, control only the fate of the warriors. The "Old Edda" ("Volva Divination") introduces three Norns who live near the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil is the tree of fate. The eagle sits on top of it, the snake bites its roots, and in the middle, the deer feeds on its leaves. The three Norns control the well of fate and water the tree. They engrave runic letters on the boards to determine the length of each person's life (Gurevich, 1994, pp. 148149).
We find the motives of fate in the German heroic epic ("Song of Hildebrand", "Song of the Nibelungs", "Kudrun").
In Nibelungs, this motif is depicted in two episodes. The first story tells the story of Kriem-hild's mysterious dream (two eagles swallow the heroine's loving hawk), which reveals Siegfried's tragic fate.
In the second episode (Incident twenty-fifth), the fate of the Burgundies leaving for their homeland is predicted by three mermaids swimming in the waters of the Danube.
In the Armenian-German epics, when talking about the motives of fate's sin, the problem of the curse arises. In "Song of the Nibelungs", the curse of the treacherously killed Siegfried is fulfilled as an expression of fate ("Let the one who is to descend from you be cursed come into the world", Incident 16), and in "Sasna Tsrer" David's curse on his son Pokr (Little) Mher "Sweet God, Let him be immortal, barren") (Sasna
2 It can be assumed that the name "norn" is comparable to the Armenian "nar" particle. It has in common with the name of the goddess of water, sea, rain in the Armenian mythology Nar (Tsovinar) (1985, p. 114). There are "Nereids" - sea mermaids in Homer's "Iliad" (1987, Song Eighteen, Vol. 39).
Tsrer, 1979, p. 45). The Agravaqar (Crow-stone) is a symbol of immortality, but it is also a symbol of inheritance.
The above-mentioned folklore works, as well as all Greco-Roman thought and fiction (Homer, Aeschylus, and Euripides), are imbued with an understanding of fate. The gods are even subject to fate. Zeus is unable to save his favourite hero, Hector, from the doom that predestined him (Homer, 1987, pp. 170-180).
Later, Hovhannes Tumanyan (1969, pp. 25, 334, 339, 399) considered William Shakespeare's service like the fact that he took world literature out of the influence of Greek fate.
Yeznikn Koghbatsi's (1994, p. 41) approach to the above-mentioned examples shows that in the West, fate is personified (parcaes and moirai) by an alienated individual, and according to the Armenian worldview, fate has an individual nature, it originates from an individual; it is not personified.
Koghbatsi's observation is entirely correct because such examples of the personification of fate, as we see in Western culture when fate plays the role of separate heroes, are absent in the Armenian reality. It becomes a symbol of more time.3 In the middle Ages, Frick (1978) united the Charkh (wheel) Falak as the spirit or deity of fate, which is subject to God, The Creator (pp. 105-107).
In the legendary conversation, Pokr Mher is locked in the rock of Van, "The soot becomes Falak, that is, the wheel of the people of the world or of the earth", Mher keeps looking at the wheel when "the soot stops", Mher will go out into the world (Srvandztyants, 1974, p. 88). "So, the wheel of fortune, which symbolizes time, just one day stop spinning" (Srvandztyants, 1974, p. 89).
Fate is in a dialectical connection with sin, which has different manifestations in Western
3 Moirais, the goddesses in Greek mythology are the goddesses of fate, the daughters of Zeus and Themis. Cloton spins the thread, Lakesis carries it through all the misfortunes of fate, Atrope cuts the thread and interrupts life (Walter, 1985, p. 161).
and Eastern cultures and is more complicated in nature. Since the Armenian-European epics were mainly based on the medieval god-centred (Christ-God) philosophy (Edoyan, 2009, p. 13), the issue should therefore be examined in light of biblical requirements.
In general, Christianity distinguishes three sins that have their subspecies. In this case, it refers to different spheres of human existence - a primary sin that stems from the imperfection of human nature; it arose from the sin of the ancestors, a personal sin that is an act of conscience against the commandments of God, and racial sin; this is submission to the passion of one's own ancestor. And in general, in Christianity, the conscious, unconscious sins that lead to the death of the human soul are defined as deadly sins (Zarin, 1996, p. 234).
A study of the Eastern ascetic manuscripts leads to the conclusion that sin can mean a criminal act, a passion, a state of mind, an inner disposition (Theophan, 1985, p. 163) and in Western traditions (as noted by Western scholars) "sin" means an act (Shpidlik, 2000). The west is closer to the tradition of the apostle Paul, where sin is personified. "Sin entered the world through man" (Bible, 2018, Rom. 5:12), and The East follows the tradition of the apostle John, who sees sin as a condition. Not only is the human separate, but the "world" is in sin (Bible, 2018, John 1:29).
The West distinguishes between intentional and arbitrary sin, while in the Eastern tradition, voluntary and involuntary sins are required "because we are responsible for" purifying "the state of our heart. Emotions show the right way to repent" (Peshkov, 2009, p. 318).
Nerses Shnorhali (1828) says, "Everything that one once confesses, loses, be it sin or virtue" (p. 45).
The West emphasizes individual responsebi-lity, which is why no one is guilty of our sins and "Sin is always the consequence of our freedom. Oppose, and you will not fall".
In the most general way, we can say that sin is a consequence of an individual's will, that he has a crime in him, and that retribution is inevitable.
On this occasion, Grigor Tatevatsi (1741) states: "All the sins committed by humans are the result of the deception of evil, the weak and easy-going will of man" (p. 212).
Sin is viewed in the West as an act, in the East as a defect, a state. Just as fate is perceived in Armenian culture as a state but not considered as an act. Accordingly, sin has completely different nature in the epic works of nations.
Sin as a Duty
The French "Roland Song" is an expression of the cultural philosophy of the Middle Ages. Christ is the monarch of Heaven, and on earth, Carlos the Great. To defend, to serve the king means to serve Christ. Roland, as a historical individual, is the bearer of not only the first sin of mankind but also his own sinful birth. According to Yarkho's (1934) hypothesis, Roland is not the cousin of Carlos the Great but his son because of his relationship with his sister Gisla. But the poem does not speak of original sin, where the hero is not guilty and does not bear individual responsibility. The events become dramatic when the hero realizes his own guilt.
In the 139th tirade, it says: "Barons, your death is my fault. Neither did I protect you, nor saved you" Roland's guilt is an act that is a duty. He was not only obliged to defend his homeland but also to preserve the lives of the knights who resisted the Moors (Yarkho, 1934, p. 23).
Sin is seen as an act in the Spanish epic. Since the first part of the epic has not reached us, we do not know the reason for Sid's deportation. But the following has been recorded in history.
Alfonso had a brother named Sancho, who ruled in Castile, and he Leon. The brother killed Sancho, and the latter's vassal, Sid, demanded that he swear by the public that he had not killed his brother. The problem here is not that the rea-
son for the deportation is revealed but that the guilt is seen as something behind it.
Passion as a Sin
In the previous two epics, women have no important role. Moreover, the woman is absent in the French "Roland song", as it could bring certain personality themes, which would weaken the boundless love for "sweet France". In this sense, the German "Song of the Nibelungs" is the opposite to the French. The driving force of events is the whirlwind of passions, along with revenge (Edoyan, 2009, p. 36).
The whole song is a process of human passion. Siegfried, as a "man of old", is destroyed, appearing in the new world, "in the whirlpool of passions". Passions, as a sin, dominate the consciousness of people, the whole inner world. The consequences are catastrophic; people are being destroyed. Siegfried's guilt is epic in nature, as its consequences are fatal for many.
Sin as a State
In "Sasna Tsrer", all the branches were formed on the basis of myths. Sanasar and Bagh-dasar are connected with the water element; they take their weapons and armour from the bottom of the sea. At the base of David's branch is the ancient myth of the thunder battle, which personifies the cosmic hero with a fiery horse and lightning sword. At the core of the branches of the Mets and Poqr Mhers are the mythical themes of Mihr, the god of the sun of the ancient Armenian and Indian celestial light (Sasna Tsrrer, 1979, p. 66).
But "Sasna Tsrer" differs from all the above-mentioned epics in the whole volume of time coverage; each branch of the epic is a separate time. It is here that the problem of epic "sin" becomes possible in the sense of perceiving different time cycles.
The realization of guilt as such does not exist in the "Sanasar and Baghdasar" branch. Man is
in harmony with himself, with nature. In his essence, there is no duality. This time is a struggle between the idolaters and the believers. In the versions, Sanasar and Baghdasar fight against the caliph of Baghdad against the infidels; they are able to avoid the status of "victim", build their fortress, and get married. They do not experience internal contradictions.
Sin as a Consequence of Ignorance
Sin, as a reality or phenomenon, appears in the second branch when Mets Mher goes to Msir in order not to violate the agreement made with Melik. But the problem is not the result of individual motivation, pure desire but the result of not ignoring each other's condition.
The opponent uses Mher's ignorance. Elder Melik has a clear goal, Mher does not realize it. "It was the lack of his mind which transferred the seed of Joch (great) Mher to his tribe; it would fade its power in that way" (Abeghyan, 1890, p. 440).
And that Mher's guilt is more a result of ignorance. The environment is not sharply opposed to his undertaking, but the outcome will be difficult for generations because Melik will constantly keep Sassoon under control, so Mher's guilt is also epical taking into consideration the inclusive nature if its consequences.
Suffering as a Sin
In David's branch, sin changes its nature. Mher eventually lost his life due to an agreement with Melik, preparing a not-so-good future for future generations. David became Mher's heir and continued to fight in new conditions for the freedom of the homeland and his independence; he is the one who continues the traditions of Sasna house. In general, it can be said that the time of the Mets Mher mainly reflects the time of the poem, when the element of the myth is severely reduced, but to a large extent, the influ-
ence of the cosmic force on human fate remains.
If Mher, with Melik's prior consent, was to keep his wife after him, which resulted in the birth of little Melik, then David's behaviour is more like deception. Whether he was engaged to the Sultan of Chimshik before he married Khan-dut, it does not matter; David is obsessed with her beauty or is deceived by Chimshik Khatun.
False Oath as a Sin
In one version, this sin is just a defect; David, hearing the praise of Khandut from the troubadour, goes to Kaputkogh. On the way, David is deceived by the mistress of Khlat. David's guilt is double; the torment darkens his consciousness, and he is deceived by the enemy because he is consciously unable to resist the temptation of a woman (Davit from Sasun, 1981, p. 32).
In the versions, the episodes of the hero being killed due to a false oath are often repeated. He tries to use cunning, but every time he makes a mistake. As a result, his cross or half of his body sags, and David realizes that he has forgotten about his oath to go back in time, to fight with this or that hero. Time has passed, and punishment is inevitable for David. And he is well aware of this circumstance, but even with a delay, he goes to the appointed place, where he is killed by a blow received from behind.
As a result of a false oath, David loses his former power.
On the other hand, David repeated Mher's mistake, but the consequences were more severe. If, in the case of Mets Mher, his tribe got an epic enemy, then in the case of David, the tribe lost its former power. Repeated sin became a fate for his successor.
Sin as Fate
It is obvious that Pokr Mher, as an individual, bears the guilt of his predecessors as a fate. He is now alone in the face of all the "epic mistakes" made by his father and grandfather. Hence
Mher's lonely, abandoned, neglected condition. Mher is the only one in "Tsrer" who realizes his own tragic situation. But it is not so much an individual behaviour, but a psychology-behaviour formed due to the time and life experience of the ancestors. He punishes all those who, in one way or another, came in contact with the heroes of Sasna.
"They said the Ghlat killed your father Why did you kill his people?
Why did you shed his people's blood? He said 'my father originated from Kakhzvan Because of Abas Mirza That's why he was killed.
Msir is our big enemy, I killed him in that a way.
Keri (uncle) Toros used to say: The waters of Kaputkogh are very powerful,
It can cause damage to many people: That's why I killed them.
The Ghlat was Chimshik Khatun, She tempted my father and called to herself, That's why his heir was born and killed him, I killed the people of Ghlat, and only a single cat remained.
The cat rose to the top of the tree, Mher hit and took it down"4 (Sasna Tsrer, 1979, pp.198-199).
The epic "Sasna Tsrer", according to the genius prediction of the Armenian people, includes the large, cosmic dimensions of time, where the people anticipated the whole tragedy of a man.
Mher does not solve the revenge of his ancestors as much as he fights against the order adopted by the previous ones.
The fourth branch of the epic is the story of Mher's persecuted life. Times have changed. If David was fighting against Bab Frank, Shebgan Khorasakan, Ajmu Shapuh, Misra Melik, Poqr Mher is fighting against Kozbadin's grandchildren. There were more people, of course, and there were more enemies too; they spread like a weed; they damaged the environment and time.
4 Literal translation by Anush Kosyan.
People have not done evil, but it turns out that Mher's goal is not only the inhuman behaviour of people, as a result of which he is not the rejecting his own way of working but the rejection of the whole world order. In this sense, Mher's sin is cosmic in nature.
The image of Mher, which condenses the whole philosophy of "Sasna Tsrer" and brings a unique conclusion to the experience of human history, could not be evil or demonic, as presented by M. Abeghyan (1890, p. 228) or T. Avdal-bekyan (1929, p. 121). The latter writes in both "Mihr in the Armenians" that "Here, too, demon-ization becomes the embodiment of darkness, a god-fighting evil demon." (Avdalbekyan, 1929, p. 121).
Gr. Grigoryan (1960) supposes that "Mher is the developing, invincible new one, the "hero making the fate (of the word G. Srvandztyan) with whom the people have connected the ideal of their social freedom" (p. 387). This is an interpretation based on ideological demands. The ideal of social freedom is largely linked to the image of David. Why was this demand repeated here? At the same time, the end of the epic was adapted to this demand.
It is not accidental that Av. Isahakyan (1952) took Mher out of Agravakar, meaning the revolution and the "fair society" (p. 44). Pokr Mher of Y. Charents (1987) came out of Agravakar and brought Ohan's evil cousin "The final fall, death is inevitable" (p. 30). But, of course, no one believed the good and forced news of the hero leaving Agravakar. There was an unspoken word until the end. Everything revolved around the spheres of life, while it was more about the centuries-old thinking of the people, the problems that have been rooted for centuries in the sphere of their intelligence. In this sense, Leon Khechoyan approached Poqr Mher's essence with comments free from ideological constraints (Grigoryan, 2019, pp. 336-411).
Meanwhile, Mher is against the whole world order. He fights against the seven angels sent by God and rebels against God; in Tovmas Sargs-
yan's story, an angel of God punishes Mher. "Let there be no death for you, and you dared to compete with God" (Harutyunyan, 1977, p. 617).
Mher becomes the bearer of the cosmic sin of mankind; he becomes the mythical hero announcing the end of a great cycle of cosmic time, the beginning of a new one. He needs a completely new cosmos, completely different from the existing one.
Mher must atone for the millennial sins of mankind in the solitude of the centuries. Undoubtedly, the commonality between Mher and Christ is obvious. Pokr Mher, Artavazd, Indian Shia, and Christ (with the Second Coming) is the deities who destroy the material world at the end of the cosmic cycle.
Pokr Mher's undertakings as manifestations of individuality (he is opposed to the whole accepted tradition) are related to the issue of freedom. Here sin and freedom become complementary bases for human existence. Mher finally chooses the individual way of survival. He had to choose between the "own essence" of the age-old tradition. The hero chooses the second way, which is the only way to achieve freedom.
Conclusion
The article examines the comparative analysis of European and Armenian epics based on certain concepts. In the context of West-East relations, different aspects of the perception of fate and guilt are revealed in French, German, Spanish and Armenian epics. In Western folklore, fate is personified and alienated from the individual; in the East, fate originates from the individual and returns to him.
If in the West sin is perceived as a consequence of a separate act, in the East, it is seen as a defect, a state. The image of the hero of the last branch of the "Sasna Tsrer" epic, Pokr Mher, is especially used as the culmination of the philosophy representing the East. Mher is the bearer of the sins of all mankind, who ultimately becomes
a deity who rejects the order of the material
world.
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